Strawberry frozen yogurt

Equipment

• Compressor ice cream maker
• Freezer-bowl ice cream maker
• Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

Ingredients

• 60 g whole milk 3.5 %
• 110 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
• 40 g dextrose (glucose powder)
• 45 g skimmed milk powder
• 1.5 g locust bean gum (carob gum, E410)
• 350 g strawberries (hulled)
• 10 g lemon juice (fresh)
• 400 g plain yogurt 3 %

Making the mix

1. In a small pan, mix the dry ingredients: sugar, dextrose, milk powder and locust bean gum (carob gum, E410) — mixed with the sugar, the gum won’t form lumps.
2. Stir in the milk (and the glucose syrup, if the recipe has it) and heat to 85 °C, just below boiling, stirring constantly. Hold it there for two minutes so the gum hydrates.
3. Cool the syrup in a bowl set in cold water with ice, then chill it completely in the fridge.
4. Blend the strawberries with the lemon juice into a smooth purée. If the seeds bother you, press it through a sieve.
5. Whisk the cold syrup, the purée and the chilled yogurt together. Don’t heat the yogurt.
6. Leave the mix in the fridge for an hour.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

1. Switch on the ice cream maker 5–10 minutes in advance so the bowl pre-chills.
2. Pour in the chilled mix (no higher than the fill line) and churn for 25–35 minutes until it has the consistency of a thick cream.
3. You can serve it soft straight away, like soft-serve. For scoops, transfer it to a chilled container, cover with cling film and leave to harden in the freezer.

Total time: 3 h 55 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

1. Freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours in advance. Take it out just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
2. With the machine running, pour in the thoroughly chilled mix — filling the bowl no more than two-thirds full; freeze the rest as a second batch.
3. Churn for 20–30 minutes until the mix thickens. Going on longer is pointless — the bowl has already warmed up.
4. Transfer to a chilled container and leave to harden in the freezer for 2 hours.

Frozen yogurt has less fat than cream ice cream, so it thickens more slowly in a freezer bowl. The mix must be really cold (5 °C or below), otherwise it stays runny.

Total time: 4 h 20 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

1. Pour the chilled mix into the CREAMi tub up to the MAX line (one or two tubs, depending on their size), put the lid on and freeze level for 24 hours.
2. Put the tub in the machine and run the Frozen Yogurt (if your model doesn’t have it, Lite Ice Cream) program.
3. If the result is crumbly or powdery, run Re-spin — with a very cold freezer even twice (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk or yogurt first).

Programme: Frozen Yogurt (if your model doesn’t have it, Lite Ice Cream)

Total time: 26 h

Stages

Preparation

20 min

Cooking

5 min

Cooling

30 min

Ageing in the fridge

1 h

Churning

30 min

Hardening in the freezer

1 h 30 min

Total time

3 h 55 min

Plan: what to do and when

The whole recipe takes 3 h 55 min, of which 25 min is hands-on — the rest is waiting you can spend elsewhere.

The making itself fits into a single day — start at least 3 h 55 min before serving.

• Prepare the mix (weigh and stir the ingredients) — 20 min
• Cook the mix — 5 min
• Cool the mix down — 30 min
• Let the mix age in the fridge — 1 h
• Churn in the machine — 30 min
• Let it harden in the freezer — 1 h 30 min

Serving and storage

With slices of fresh strawberry and a mint leaf, or with crushed butter biscuits.

In a sealed container, 3–4 days. Let it stand for 10–15 minutes before serving.

Tips

• Pieces of strawberry in the mix freeze into hard ice cubes; if you want pieces, add them chopped and sugared only at the end of churning.
• For children under 1 year, a fruit purée with no added sugar is better — this recipe is a sweet dessert for older children.
• A drop of balsamic vinegar or a little black pepper brings out the strawberry flavour surprisingly well.

Related recipes

• Classic tart frozen yogurt

  Tangy plain frozen yogurt like the soft-serve kind — light, refreshing and a base for any topping.

• Blueberry frozen yogurt

  Purple frozen yogurt made with briefly cooked blueberries and Greek-style yogurt.

• Fruity frozen yogurt for children

  Mild strawberry and banana frozen yogurt with half the sugar, no honey and no alcohol. It can also be made as ice lollies.

Articles that mention this recipe

• Frozen yogurt and live cultures

  Do yogurt cultures survive freezing? What the measurements say, how much sugar frozen yogurt contains and how to make it at home without killing the cultures with heat.

• Ice cream for children

  How much free sugar the WHO recommends, how much there is in a scoop, why honey is not for children under 1 year and what to look out for with colourings.

And what to make with it

Once this ice cream is ready, it works in these desserts.

• Milkshake

  Ice cream and cold milk in a ratio that holds both thickness and flavour. The whole trick is to blend briefly — a long blend turns the shake into lukewarm milk.

• Cookie ice cream sandwich

  Ice cream between two cookies, frozen firm. The trick is that the cookie has to stay soft — a hard one snaps when you bite and the ice cream shoots out.

Sources

• Goff & Hartel: Ice Cream (7. vyd., Springer 2013)